Kleenex principle, Educated ignorance, Regulations, FDA, Volunteering
Much has been said and written about recycling. No one can be seriously opposed to the idea, but then there are exceptions. When recycling becomes a cause, a profit center or out-of-step-with-reality, it is time to stop and rethink what recycling is all about.
In good conscious many are recycling because they honestly think that they are doing what is best for the ecological future of the world. They don't for a moment think about the consequences of their actions. For, recycling isn't just the sorting of garbage, it is much more, and to understand recycling, one has to delve into the source (separation and cleaning), distribution (harvesting and transportation), storage (accumulation), rehabitation (rendering the material useful in itself), redistribution (transport) and use by a willing buyer. In our "modern" society, we have entrusted recycling to an elite group of non-elected officials who have as a primary objective, ensuring that they have a job, and that it pays well. According we can't always trust what they say, since they have a private axe to grind.
First, recycling is not new. Nature and man have been actively involved in the recovery of value from waste and reuse of the material either as the actual article or as a "remanufactured" product. Flies around a dung pile are one example of nature's recycling. (Too often, this example comes to mind when you think of governmental intervention into recycling.) Here are some other examples of recycling back then.
QUILTS - Before recycling became popular, individuals took it upon themselves to save and recycle. Many of the beautiful quilts of old were made from scraps of fabric either originating as trimmings from cloth or else saved from clothing no longer used. Just such a quilt has been made from old worn out blue jeans that represent our entire family. When one snuggles under it for warmth, you have the presents of the past bestowed on the future. My mother made a quilt from "Bull Durham" tobacco sacks, each carefully dyed with Ritz yellow and red dye. The batting, carefully hand carded to remove the seed from unginned cotton and the backing from unbleached muslin, adds character to the quilt.
DRAWERS - Now here's a family tradition worth passing on to future generations. How many wives would ever consider making a pair of drawers for their husband. And how many men would wear them? Selecting the cloth is part of the project. In the old days, flour sacks and feed sacks came in colourful prints. Not only was it important to choose carefully, but also to try and get matching bags. Never mind that maybe you didn't need three bags of chicken feed or that extra bag of flour. (The mills learned this bit of aggressive merchandising long before the business schools even thought of the idea.) So once the cloth was chosen, it was just a matter of taking an old pair of drawers, carefully ripping the seams and using the sections as a pattern. Fortunately snaps, buttons and ties have given way to elastic so that comfort was assured. And guess what, they fit!
NAILS - It is reported that on the frontier, a house was burned down to recover the nails so that they could be reused. I don't know about that, but I do know that nails were so valuable that there was a cottage industry in Baltimore in the 1800s. Nails were hand forged at home after work much like piecemeal sewing of clothes today. Another example closer to home, and perhaps it was a means to keep me "employed", but my father paid me by the coffee can full for nails pulled from boards in two old houses we tore down. The nails had to be straightened and sized before he considered the job complete and payment made.
RAG PICKERS - At one time there was an active market for rags. They went into manufacture of fine paper with a high "rag" content, and found other markets as well. Now with the advent of polyester and other synthetic fibers, clothing is no longer pure and free of contaminants and so rags are of less value. Rag picking was not considered a position beneath the dignity of man and good money could be made from the activity. Not too many years ago, it was not uncommon to see a number of people scrambling over piles of garbage at the town dumps seeking what they might. The old saying of one man's junk is another man's treasure has no better basis than what is "found" at the dump. After the second world war when the rage was to have all that was new and shinny, many quality pieces of furniture and antiques found their way to the dump. A good friend, now long dead, had an amazing collection of antiques which he had had the good sense to salvage from the Jacksonville, Florida dump. Now, not only is it unsightly to be seen scavering, but it is illegal as well. Officials will cite risk of disease, liability, injury &c;. to kill off this most visible example of recycling.
Could it be that the current recycling movement is driven by the profit motive? How else can you explain the decision to not recycle paper and other items because the "joint powers" or what ever else they are known in the community, can't make a profit from handling the waste. Imagine if you will, being told that they don't accept copper tubing and wire, so it will have to go to the landfill. The reason given that the quantity is just too small for them to take it to a scrap metal dealer. By carving out profit centers for themselves, they have effectively destroyed free enterprise in waste collection. My fear is that they will destroy the good Samaritan role of organizations like the Boy Scouts and others. Wouldn't you rather save aluminum cans for the Scouts and see them benefit rather than hauling them to a recycling center where the bureaucrats are the only beneficiaries?
Perhaps the most antagonizing feature of current day recycling is the reduction of highly paid professionals to the role of "volunteers". That's right, every time you remove the labels, rinse the container, separate into different piles by plastic type, box or bag in special containers and haul it away to the recycling center or bin, you are reducing your own value. Wouldn't it be better if someone was given the opportunity to earn a decent living and get a leg up on society by doing this for you? And, don't forget for a minute, the use of water and detergent used to rinse those containers. Of course this "waste" goes into the sanitary sewer for treatment like the rest of household effluent. And, driving to the recycling center, or if the truck comes to you, how much additional energy is wasted, air polluted and vehicles required to perform this task. Then there is the recycling bins themselves; neat blue boxes stacked along the curb in some towns, they most certainly cost someone tax dollars and also required the use of a valuable resource for their manufacture. These are just some of the hidden cost of recycling. Including them in a balance sheet would bring reality to the world of recycling.
Nevertheless, I am in favor of recycling, just do it in a responsible way.
The cause/need - has always been there. There is value in waste and recycling only makes sense.
The profit center - has changed focus from free enterprise to a quasi-governmental activity that is not self supporting. We
tried the experiment, now let's get Government out of garbage and free enterprise back in.
The out-of-step-with-reality - is new on the scene. Children are being "educated" to accept without thought,
pronouncements on the environment. This must change, or our next generation will be even more confused as they come to
realize that the "facts" were not facts at all and only the pronouncements of special interest groups more concerned with
their own jobs than the environment.
So recycle, but do it with reason and forethought.
ABOUT Joe Wortham